BrainBlox: Nitinol and Flexinol

Nitinol and Flexinol aka: Muscle Wire, Memory Wire, Smart Wire

A movie's worth a jabillion words.  Here the failed cousin of Q from James Bond gives you an overview on this material's characterstics.

Q's Cousin on Nitinol

NOVA has a great video on the subject as well.

NOVA NITINOL


You can buy it HERE.

Gonzo Build: Soap Box Derby Car

See the one and only Hanz created by team Brain Fart of ImagineN4tion.  The link below explains it all.  True Gonzo.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gonzo-Soap-Box-Derby-Car/

Image 1: Hanz rolls down the start ramp

BrainBlox: HD44780 LCDs

Here are the best resources we have found for learning how to use HD44780 LCDs (standard small LCD screens).

This article is REAL OLD AND CRUSTY but REAL APPLICABLE AND CRUSTY.  Definitely a good read just to get you understanding how these LCDs actually function.  Note: with an Arduino you will not actually have to bang the bits but this is what's happening behind the scenes.

http://lcd-linux.sourceforge.net/pdfdocs/lcd1.pdf
http://lcd-linux.sourceforge.net/pdfdocs/lcd2.pdf

From there you can put one to use by snapping it up on Adafruit and following the tutorial.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/181

Buy it at the link above and then following the tutorial.